Exemplary systems, apparatuses and methods for performing automated biochemical assays employing optical fibers to transmit electromagnetic radiation reflected and/or emitted by samples contained in test receptacles, are disclosed and described, by way of non-limiting examples, in each of U.S. Published Patent Application No. US 2014-0263984 A1, entitled “Indexing Signal Detection Module”; International Application No. WO 2014/153193 A2, entitled “Diagnostic Systems and Methods”; U.S. Published Patent Application No. No. US 2014-0263153 A1, entitled “Interlocking Cap and Receptacle for Automated Processes”; U.S. Published Patent Application No. US 2014-0038192 A1, entitled “System, Method and Apparatus for Automated Incubation”; and U.S. application Ser. No. 14/213,900, entitled “Method for Analyzing a Plurality of Samples,” and filed on Mar. 14, 2014. The full contents of each of the foregoing applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
As disclosed and described in U.S. Published Patent Application No. US 2014/0263984 A1, a “thermocycler” of an exemplary system used for performing automated fiber optic interrogation (testing) of a sample, such as a biological sample, includes a plurality of test receptacle holders (e.g., 12), each holder having a plurality of (e.g., 5) test receptacle wells. Each test receptacle well has an open bottom end, and is configured to have a test receptacle seated therein in a stable manner. By this arrangement, optical interrogation of a sample contained in a test receptacle seated in the test receptacle well may be performed using light transmitted and/or received through an axial-facing distal end of an optical fiber positioned proximate the open bottom of the respective test receptacle well.
For the test results to be reliable, it is critical that the optical pathway extending between, and including, the end surfaces of the respective optical fiber and test receptacle be free and clear of any debris, such as dust, fibers, hair and/or other particulate materials, that may interfere with the optical interrogation process. Debris can be especially problematic when the test receptacle holders are open to the atmosphere (i.e., without any cover or lid) in order to allow for easy insertion and extraction of the test receptacles into and out of the test receptacle wells. Debris may exhibit autofluorescence, i.e., in which the debris material naturally fluoresces, or may be non-fluorescent. While debris that fluoresces is generally easy to detect, debris that does not fluoresce can be difficult to detect. As a result, non-fluorescing debris can interfere with the passage of light without being detected and, consequently, lead to false or misleading test results.
As such, upon detection of any debris on or over the end of an optical fiber that may be interfering with a light signal path, the respective test receptacle well(s) and optical fiber end are not able to be used to perform further testing of sample test receptacles until they are manually cleaned, e.g., using a cotton swab or compressed air (similar to cleaning a keyboard). Furthermore, because some types of interfering debris are not readily detectable, the axial-facing ends of the optical fibers must be periodically cleaned, generally during routine servicing by a field service technician, to ensure that non-detected debris does not have an adverse effect on the sample testing. The frequency of regular cleaning can be expensive both in terms of the cleaning expense, and in terms of the lost time for testing while the system is shut-down for cleaning. Moreover, in the event immediate manual cleaning of detected debris is not performed, the respective optical fiber and/or test receptacle well are no longer available for reliable testing in the meantime, and their use must be disabled, thereby reducing the throughput of the system.
Other components of the sample testing systems may also require periodic manual cleaning and/or sterilization. For example, test receptacle wells may be exposed to sample material or reagents on the outer surfaces of receptacles, flakes of plastic, hair and/or environmental particles or contaminates, and may also require periodic manual cleaning and/or sterilization to avoid cross-contamination between samples or other problems that may arise as a result of such exposure.
None of the references described, referred to, and/or incorporated by reference herein are admitted to be prior art.